One Direction

Last week I had to visit Prince Charles Hospital, the large general hospital outside Merthyr Tydfil. I've mentioned the bus journey previously, in The Last Bus From the Cynon Valley, so I don't need to go into too much detail here.

Suffice it to say that it took just under an hour and a half to travel from Aberdare town centre to the hospital entrance. Over a third of that was made up of the journey (Stagecoach route 9) from Aberdare to Merthyr Tydfil itself, calling at Trecynon, Penywaun, Hirwaun, the out of town shopping centre, and Parc Keir Hardie.

Once you arrive in Merthyr, there's an interval of 'up to' ten minutes before the 27 bus pulls in. The bus itself takes a circuitous route through the town centre, then travels through the outskirts to the Gurnos housing estate. Once it enters the Gurnos, it seems to travel down each and every street in a strange figure-of-eight loop. (I'd love to see it superimposed on a map. I might try sketching it myself, actually.)

At at least three points on the route, I'm fairly sure it would be quicker to jump off the bus and cut across the estate on foot. If you knew exactly where you were going, I daresay it would be possible. But the Gurnos is a mystery. I got completely lost there one day, just trying to get from the little shopping arcade to the hospital. I had the tall chimney stack in my sights, but rows of houses kept blocking my way. I won't make that mistake again.

Eventually, the bus heads out of the estate towards Cyfarthfa Park. Just when it seems that the driver's forgotten to stop at the hospital, it takes the left exit off the roundabout and goes back into the estate before arriving just outside the hospital. I didn't clock the journey time for myself, but according to the display in the bus station, it takes approximately 25 minutes.

On the way back into Merthyr, thankfully, the bus doesn't retrace its steps. Instead it makes pretty decent time back into town. It runs in only one direction around the Gurnos, so if you want to travel backwards along the route, you apparently have to stay on and do the complete circuit.

It was a good thing I was seen fairly promptly, as I'd have needed to be in Merthyr by about 1830 in order to catch the last bus back to Aberdare.

Yes, that's right - the last bus to Aberdare leaves at 1845. However, if I lived on the opposite side of the town, out towards Tredegar, Brynmawr or Ebbw Vale, I'd have been able to stay in Merthyr until the pubs closed, and then some.

Prince Charles Hospital must be one of the biggest employers in the Heads of the Valleys area, and has a huge patient catchment. It's no wonder the car parks are always rammed, when it's a mini adventure simply getting there by public transport. And it's no wonder that so many members of staff drive to work. They simply wouldn't be able to fit their shifts around the very limited buses from Aberdare (and elsewhere).

I had a follow-up appointment this week, and a friend gave me a lift. Even counting a stop to buy some petrol, it took us just over twenty minutes. It's really no contest, is it?